Sharks break WP hearts
1 Jul 2006
Sharks prop Danie Saayman scored a try after the full-time hooter to snatch a 28-25 Absa Currie Cup victory against Western Province at Newlands on Saturday.
With time up on the clock, the Sharks were awarded a penalty inside the red zone, from which Saayman was driven over. Referee Jonathan Kaplan referred the decision to the TMO, who gave the green light after seeing the replay.
The Sharks were facing defeat when they trailed 18-25 with 15 minutes to go, but Butch James began the comeback with a penalty.
The Natalians appeared to have scored again when a grubber from replacement centre Gcobani Bobo resulted in a five-pointer for AJ Venter. However, Kaplan reversed his decison to award the try after the touch judge raised a flag for an earlier off-the-ball charge from James on Gio Aplon.
To make things worse for the visitors, James was yellow carded and walked off to a chorus of boos, although he did return to play a part in the match-winning try.
Overall, it was a hot-and-cold performance from Dick Muir’s side.
They spent the majority of the opening quarter inside WP territory, but the Sharks backline failed to round off a number of try-scoring opportunties set up by the pack.
A penalty from James was small reward for several attacks on the Province tryline, but the visitors finally went over on the 20-minute mark when Dusty Noble finished off a move that began inside their half. A clever inside pass from Odwa Ndungane had put Grant Rees into space, who in turn found Noble on his outside.
WP hit back almost immediately when Corne Uys received posession on the blind side, chipped over the Sharks defenders and regathered to score in the left-hand corner.
A turnover then saw Chumani Booi break away down the right-hand touchline and offload to Aplon, who shrugged off the tackle of Scott Mathie to score near the posts. Naas Olivier again missed the conversion to leave the teams locked at 10-all.
The Sharks should have regained the lead just before the break when Noble found space on the left, but Adrian Jacobs took the tackle when he had Mathie in the clear on his outside. Not surprisingly, the ball was turned over and kicked into touch by Peter Grant.
It was WP who edged in front after half-time, when another turnover coupled with missed tackles from Jacobs and Rees saw Aplon score his second in the corner.
Grant, having taken over the kicking duties, missed the touchline conversion, but then kicked a penalty to give Province an eight-point lead.
Just when it looked like the game was slipping away from the Sharks, James put Noble into space and he sent Brett Hennessey away for their second try. James’s conversion attempt went wide, but he made ammends soon after with a penalty that levelled the scores at 18-all.
WP’s pack has copped their fair share of criticism over the years, but it was a well-executed driving maul that saw captain Luke Watson grab his side’s bonus-point try.
However, it was the Sharks who finished strongly and took the full five points from a match they probably should have lost.
WP - Tries: Corne Uys, Gio Aplon (2), Luke Watson. Conversion: Peter Grant. Penalty: Grant.
Sharks - Tries: Dusty Noble, Brett Hennessey, Danie Saayman. Conversions: Butch James (2). Penalties: James (3).
By Simon Borchardt, at Newlands
175 Comments
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2 Jul 2006, 09:50 am
I felt the Sharks let themselves down at times with some poor options and should have done more with the quality of possession they had for large parts of the game.Hats off to WP for taking their opportunities and some resolute defence at crucial times.
2 Jul 2006, 09:59 am
Really disappointing news for the Sharks is the loss of Braam Immelman and Nico Breedt to French club rugby.Both are hugely talented and have played some fine rugby this year.Good luck to them as they seek to make an impact abroad.They will join other ex-Sharks like Trevor Halstead, Shaun Payne and Rudi Keil on foreign assignment.
2 Jul 2006, 10:11 am
Halstead looks in good form for his club and scored a great power try in the final, now there’s a foreign based player that’s worth bringing back home for the boks, with Cobus Visagie.
Some of the bok selections don’t make sense and what’s even more puzzling is that Ian Mac is a selector.
2 Jul 2006, 10:13 am
Jy kan sien Luke Watson is nie gewoond om drieë te druk nie…het julle gesien hoe hy te kere gegaan het toe hy wel een kry.
2 Jul 2006, 10:19 am
Province made me smile. They played good runnuning rugby, if they had a better team they would have wasted the Sharks. Unlucky, that’s what I call it. The Sharks didn’t seem to get going. Why don’t they play Pienaar?! I am a proud Province supporter! PROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINCE!!!!!!!!!!!
2 Jul 2006, 10:55 am
This was actually a pretty good game of rugby.
There were quite a few decent performances but Watson and James stuck out particularly for me.
Watson must be a Bok now……this bloke lives and breathes rugby.
Butch has some pretty good touches but that shoulder still gets him in trouble.
2 Jul 2006, 12:54 pm
St Pete,
Would you rate him above Pedrie judging on yesterdays games?
I would not.
2 Jul 2006, 12:55 pm
Bok,
How can a man smile if your team lost?
Are you that used to losing?
2 Jul 2006, 13:11 pm
st petersburb mate in general i agree with you
butch did how ever not punch or shoulder anyone\
i watched it now over and over
to answer stan ???? whos beter pedrie or watson
my friend play both with aj at 8th man and that combo will do wonders\
watson is a must
pedire is a must\ and butch is a must
its time and i know we all harp on the
the linesman on yesterdays call that butch punched????? should be accountable or was he maybe payed???
there was no punch
funny how the replays for this was not shown?????????????????
we all shout our boys down all the damn time and they are punished for no reason at times
butch james puts fear inbto the blacks and aussies
therefor the news hype of he tackles bad
yes he had some way back why still punish him unduely
?????????????????
we need players like watson and butch that have balls ,, not little fairies like joe that talks big but plays pissie
2 Jul 2006, 14:38 pm
Never thought id be defending liston ever and while i agree that he isnt up to standard and shouldnt be reffing at this level i think your being a bit harsh while we didnt see punch from butch when he went out of shot the incident looked far from over so while just because we didnt see the punch on camera doesnt mean it didnt happen.
Thought there was alot of new talent on show in this game thought the likes of Aplon , Harris and Diack who is only 20 were very encouraging. Hope the performance of Attie Winter who is an experienced cc prop and was worked over by a club player on debut in harris will cause wp to send this oke back to kimberly.
On the sharks side Bismarck was definately the best forward on the park for the second week running he is starting to dominate games like he did for grey college and fs schools in his youth ,Kankowski, Hennessey and Noble also performed very well. Cant really agree about with the other guys on butchs performance was really hoping he performed because the boks need him i think but he struggled to get his backs away and oliver got his backs away alot better even though the sharks pack were dominant.
2 Jul 2006, 19:38 pm
I eat the chicken.
2 Jul 2006, 19:38 pm
Bismark duplessis is ‘n monster!
2 Jul 2006, 19:38 pm
Koos Du plessis is ‘n legend.
Net soos paulse en slaptjips en fleckie.
2 Jul 2006, 19:58 pm
Skim. Why the multi thread poultry submission?
2 Jul 2006, 19:59 pm
It’s what I do.
2 Jul 2006, 20:02 pm
Redox
I have watched the incident a couple of times on ultra slow motion, frame by frame, and it is very obvious that Butch did not punch Aplon. If Manuels or any touch judge is going to intervene on such a crucial matter, ie sending a player off and disallowing a match winning try, he must be damned sure that he is right and has got his facts straight, and in this case Manuels was absolutely wrong on the call.
2 Jul 2006, 20:05 pm
Aplon would have kicked butch’s *** if he really punched him.
2 Jul 2006, 21:10 pm
Aplon kan nie om donner nie?
3 Jul 2006, 08:24 am
Well done to the Sharks! You had the composure to win a close one after being stunned by a young team of WP “nobody’s”. Thank you my PROVINCE for playing the great game of rugby that you did. To the Lions, bad luck on the day. You’ll get them next time.
3 Jul 2006, 08:53 am
Adi Jacobs is still the worst player in all of SA.
3 Jul 2006, 09:07 am
Adi and all those breaks and inside passes … if only he wasn’t a ******* … maybe sampionman would like him …
WP lost … Sharks won … that all that matters … maybe WP can contend for the CC next year … this year your’ll just making up the numbers
3 Jul 2006, 09:10 am
Aquarius27,
G’n wonder hy noem homself Sampioenman nie…Groot kop, maar fokkel brein…
3 Jul 2006, 09:36 am
Corne Uys is hot.
3 Jul 2006, 11:48 am
Is the post about J Fourie coming to the Sharks legit?
Would be great to finally get rid of adrian jacobs, can only imagine how good fourie and barrit would be together.
I agree with samioenman, jacobs is the worst and far worse than jorrie and gus.
Thought watson was dam good against the sharks…
3 Jul 2006, 12:51 pm
watson after saturday yet once again showed that he is the best loose forward in sa next to schalk and his captaincy was the best i have seen from any player in sa over 10 years
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